A classic tale of wonderment and associated UFO obsession. Richard Dreyfus is at his most likeable as a young husband and father who develops an irresistable compulsion after witnessing a UFO. This film is a bit of a case of the journey being more important than the destination; I actually found the effects laden finale the least interesting part of the film, but there's some classic Spielberg along the way, most notably the sequence involving the alien abduction of a small boy. A little overlong, but still great family entertainment.

Both times I tried to watch this movie I fell asleep. It just wasn't holding my interest. I'm a Spielberg fan and I like sci-fi movies, but this one just didn't do it for me. I may give it another chance in the future, since so many people consider it a classic.

An alien-centric story all about the the UFO. Through amazing music and visuals, the film builds anticipation of it's inevitable contact with intrigue, mystery and wonder. The vague nature of the extraterrestrials adds a lasting quality to the experience. 'Close Encounters' is an engaging sci-fi tale that holds up today.

Full Movie Reviews

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind is not entertainment. It is torture. Despite Close Encounter's legacy, I cannot recommend it on almost any level. Yes, it has greatly impacted culture and films, but this is not entertainment. This is the destruction of a family, a father slowly turning insane, and an overall traumatizing affair turned into a film. I repeat for a third time, Close Encounters is not entertainment.

The, slightly confusing, story follows a man named Roy, who's life is changed when he sees several UFO flying around his hometown. He becomes obsessed with a strange shape and sculpts it endlessly. He begins to go crazy, and his family is devastated. In a nutshell, that is the plot. And while parts of the story seem somewha...

Steven Spielberg is not a director fully appreciated by everyone. Some dismiss his works as mere popcorn entertainment, and believe he is over-rated. But he is not. No one posses the rare kind of talent that he has; to create an unparalleled sense of suspense, to so amazingly capture great child performances, and even more importantly he has the ability to be so versatile. No other director can range from war epic to action film, to vengeance story, to alien visitation stories, to ocean horror, to suspense, and back around again a few more times. And this is one of the many displays of his extraordinary skill to tell a story and keep us waiting. It was the same year George Lucas took us to a galaxy far away, that Steven Spielberg brought them home to us in the greatest movie where aliens ...